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Holland girl's 911 call saves mother’s life

"My mom died.'
Jordan Poulin's terrified cries for help rang out across a phone line the morning of Nov. 8 as an Ottawa County police dispatcher tried to discern what had happened.

AP Wire

Holland

Nov 18, 2011

The 4-year-old knew things were serious — her mom had just collapsed on the floor of their Holland home — but how serious, she wasn’t sure.

“What makes you think mommy’s not OK?”

“I don’t know why, but I was playing on the computer and I heard her fall,” Jordan said, in a recording of the conversation released Wednesday by Ottawa County Central Dispatch.

Jordan eventually was able to calm herself down and lead dispatchers to her home where her mother, Kelly LaMar, was alive and received medical attention for a series of seizures.

As LaMar recovers, Jordan continues to gain recognition for her act of heroism as a 4-year-old with the intuition and training to call 911.

The West Michigan Character Council plans to honor the young girl at a Dec. 8 meeting with its monthly “Character Counts” award. At 4 years old, she’ll be the youngest recipient in the agency’s history.

Executive Director Nancy De Boer recalled hearing of the 911 conversation and thought of her own experiences as a mother and what it might have felt like to rely on a young child in an emergency situation.

“It’s just amazing,” she said of Jordan’s actions. “We were just thrilled to hear about her heroism and stability in such a traumatic experience.”

De Boer thought of the dispatcher who was able to guide the young girl through the call and calm her enough to gather information necessary for police to respond. She thought of the Holland officers who arrived on scene in the Candlelight Manor mobile home park and later gave Jordan a teddy bear as they commended her quick thinking under pressure.

“Things don’t work this well easily,” she said.

The dispatcher coached young Jordan on how to walk outside and identify the color of her home. She asked about LaMar’s vehicle — “She drives a big Tahoe,” Jordan responded — and kept her on the phone until police and firefighters arrived.

Jordan’s stepfather, Courtney LaMar, said the young girl was aware of her mother’s frequent migraines and worried what she would do if anything worse happened.

Last week’s events, he said, proved she could follow through in a tough situation and had maturity beyond her years.